Marsh won the slow-smoke competition on Saturday, May 4, beating out 11 other women for the national title. Marsh finished 32nd among 71 total contestants.

She had only smoked a pipe five times previously.

"I am a national champion. That's so weird," Marsh said with a laugh.

Marsh's journey into the world of pipe smoking started in January 2012. She picked up the hobby as a way to spend time with her former boyfriend and joined the Order of Collegiate Pipe Smokers in Mount Pleasant.

"I ended up really like it and liking the people and stuck around," she said. "Pipe smoking is about the experience and the flavor."

Marsh, who manages her family's Kawkawlin used book store, Buy the Book, studied theater performance and communication, and hopes to do press relations for a small theater such as the Midland Center for the Arts, she said.

What Marsh loves about the pipe club is the comradery. There are about 15 people in the Mount Pleasant club, founded in 2009, she said.

“There’s just something about sitting around smoking a pipe and talking. We have the most philosophical conversations,” she said. “We talk about the great horrors of the world and how to fix them.”

In May, the members of the club attended the Chicagoland International Pipe and Tobacciana Show, the largest in the U.S. Marsh said she and fellow members of her club wanted to meet older smokers who could teach them the art.

For the competition, each person receives the same type of pipe, 3 grams of tobacco and two matches. Competitors can ask others to produce smoke at any time to ensure their pipes are still lit.

"You have to stoke it pretty regularly," Marsh said. "You have to pay attention to what you are doing."

Marsh uses a billiard pipe — she calls it "Francine" — and prefers aromatic tobacco, a fruitier tasting tobacco that beginners often use. Her favorites are cherry and vanilla.